Saturday, 04 December 2010
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My Thoughts On: Love & Other Drugs
I have to say, I’m rather pleased with the trend in the romantic comedy genre right now. Most (not all) in recent years have been bearable, sometimes actually quite enjoyable (see: The Proposal). Last weekend I was dragged to Love and Other Drugs, staring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. The trailers promised a cryfest of boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back, and to be perfectly honest that’s exactly what it was, but in this case it wasn’t a bad thing.See, there is a difference between clichés and conventions. One can succeed in a genre if they avoid the former and tweak the latter into something we haven’t seen before. Right off the bat Love And Other Drugs sets itself apart from other romantic comedies by telling you that Maggie Murdock (Hathaway) has Parkinson’s disease, which is rare in someone her age. This ups the stakes and actually makes everything the characters go through mean something.
Sure it goes through the motions a bit sometimes. There is the obligatory best friend of the guy who brings the comic relief, and there is that feeling of almost jaded expectation as you feel the two lovers approaching the “break-up point”. Where Love and Other Drugs succeeds is about making the film as much about the disease as it is about the couple.
As expected there were plenty of sniffles in the theater at times, and that is to be expected, not everything in this movie is happy. But there is one scene in particular were a Maggie cannot get a refill of her medication and so self medicates with a bottle of Vodka. It’s upsetting on level that goes beyond the “Aww, he loves her.”
And that’s another thing, Jamie Randall (Gyllenhaal) does love Maggie and unlike the almost complete lack of chemistry with his co-star in Prince of Persia, I actually believed it this time.
So if you’re a guy and your girl wants to see a chick flick, well, you could do a hell of a lot worse than this one. And if you’re a girl and you want to drag your man to a chick-flick, take pity on him and make it one he can actually enjoy.
Oh and both of the stars are naked A LOT. Literally you see Anne Hathaway topless probably twelve times. And that ain’t half bad either.
What did you think of Love and Other Drugs?
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About the Author
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- From: NLugo
- About Me: I'm currently a junior at the University of Delaware studying Creative Writing with minors in History and Political Science. I love to read, write, play videogames, and watch movies (though my schedule no longer affords much time for the second two). My favorite movie is probably The Dark Knight (real original, I know) and my favorite game is probably Red Dead Redemption (though that may change when Arkham Asylum 2 comes out). Other than that I like to listen to music (rock and metal mostly). Honestly the only genre I really cannot stand is Country. Being from New York originally I root for any New York team (Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets) so long as they are beating the crap out of a Philly team.
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Comments (8)
Haven't seen it yet, but I want to.
I want to see this movie so badly.
Nice review!
i just saw this tonight actually, and i enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than i thought i would. it was much deeper than i expected and, i agree, it was touching in more ways than "awww that's cuteeeee." the obnoxious brother was definitely cliche, but he had his redeeming moment at the end, so i didn't completely hate him :P. but what was, i think, the most moving part of the movie was thinking about what it must be like to have an incurable disease at such a young age. to know you're only going to get worse for the rest of your life? i can't even imagine.
I really didn't like it. I mean, I am not mad for paying to see it(refer to movies such as "Dear John"), but I could have lived without it. It seemed disjointed. Their were parts that had nothing ot do with anything that could have been left out. However, his panic attack was great!! LOL
might try it
i liked it, i thought it was going to be better than that but it was good. i wasn't expecting that much nudity and sex though it was pretty hot, it made me want to have sex too.
During the previews I thought, "This is one of those movies you should watch as a couple." But then I also thought, "There's no way in hell I'd be able to convince my boyfriend to watch this with me." Now, I have hope that it is possible; "...you see Anne Hathaway topless probably twelve times."? Noted.
It was alright. I really wasn't expecting the whole Parkinson's thing but I heard her on a radio interview and she mentioned it. The story definitely wasn't a typical rom-com. However, I didn't enjoy how many sex scenes there were in it... I mean... Was that all necessary?